August 2021 – The Old Askean Association

2009 was 50 years on since I started at Aske’s, along with a large bunch of other “weeds”. I thought of organising a reunion on Founder’s Day 2009. Reunions can be tricky things, there is always the question of will they get on when people haven’t met for years. I thought that Founders Day, where there is the church service followed by drinks and food at the school (at the “exorbitant” cost of £5) would be a suitable “melting pot”. Folk would then have the option of leaving straight after the wine and finger buffet or carrying on at a suitable local pub.
Despite an initial enthusiastic response to posting on Friends Reunited and the Old Askean Yahoo Group there were just three of us who made it from the intake of ’59. Myself, Peter Sidgwick and Bob Miller. Pete and Bob saw one another regularly; in fact they had been on the stage at a school prize giving as they had been sponsored by pupils on long distance charity bike rides that they had taken part in.

I had met Pete a few times since school but not seen Bob for some forty years although at school and home we were good friends. As always, the Founders Day service was well run and the standards to do not seem to have changed since I was at school. It is remarkable that in today’s society the prefects still wear gowns and seem to carry the same authority as they did when I was at school. Dermot Poston who was one of our best remembered teachers was there at we had a good reminisce with him. At the time we did not realise (at least I didn’t) that 1959 marked his first year as member of the staff.

After the wine and buffet what to do? Somehow, we found ourselves at the Market Porter at Borough Market. Arriving there at about 3:30 ish meant that the lunchtime crowd had gone and it was too early for the evening mob. We had a great few beers together. As seemed inevitable, since we had all been members, we ended up talking about the Explorers’ Club and the expedition to Norway. As we chatted on, we were asked by a group of Norwegians of all people if we would take a group photo. We asked them to join us and we explained what we talking about. The beer continued to flow. After a couple more rounds each we decided that we should call it a day as none of us were up to the third round, certainly not after the lunch-time wine! All in all a good day, a shame that more of us were not present and that the only photos of the three of us are on a Norwegian’s camera! Maybe more of us will be there in 2019!

Barry Mellish (1959 – 1966)

Minutes of the 134^thAnnual General Meeting of the Old Askean Association

held by Zoom on Thursday 8^th July 2021.

The President A.T. Jordan-Smith took the chair and opened the meeting at 6 pm.

Present: NR Goodman R J Sandler

S K Homewood A Bolton

D C Johnson D Barrett

A Jordan-Smith G Fairburn

B R Mellish A Ayling

M R Nason T Pitman

M J Nicholls G Lambert

D G Powell

Apologies for absence were received from the following members:

M C Black P Ayling

R Pawley G Bunce

G V Wickens P Duggan

R Noble

1. To consider and adopt the Minutes of the 133rd Annual General Meeting (published in the Old Askean edition Nov 2019)

Proposed: B Mellish Seconded: T Pitman Carried

2. OLD ASKEAN ASSOCIATION – PRESIDENT’S REPORT 2021

Ladies, gentlemen, friends, family and of course all Old Askeans, young and old. As my third year in office comes to an end, who would have thought the past 15 months would have caused us so much upheaval and uncertainty in the world that we are now living in. So here we are for which will be our last (I hope) OAA AGM, and committee zoom meeting, I for one am looking forward to getting back to normality, or whatever it looks like at least post pandemic….

I would like to follow on by thanking all of you that have helped me in my third term, albeit under zoom meeting conditions and as President of the Association, it again, has been an honour and a privilege to undertake this role.

At this time in the proceedings, I would normally have reported what a bumper year that we have had through our social’s events and the like bit COVID put pay to that and here we are at the AGM and still not managed to see you all face to face. Worry ye not!! The committee has come together bi-monthly to hold their meetings via zoom and as always, they have been fun and productive, and we have been thriving behind the scenes.

This year the committee have met to discuss OASLA, the School Pavilion Development and more recently Robert Aske and his association with the slave trade. Thanks goes out to those who have given input and your feedback has been greatly received.

We have seen some changes this year on the committee, notably Dennis Johnson finally leaving us to enjoy some peace and quiet. A massive thank you from me for all that you have done, not only for me, but the committee and all Askeans, you will certainly be missed and tough shoes to fill. I hope that this does not come as news to you all, but Gary Bunce has now taken over as Editor of our ever-popular magazine and all contact details can be found on the OA website.

Whilst I have been in office the OAA Golf Society has been resurrected and again we are waiting for dates where we will be able to thrash a few balls around and sup a beer or two. The City Diners again will be advertising some lunch dates in the not-too-distant future, and we will be resuming our Advent lunch in November. Please look out for all dates on the website as we again have arranged our Annual Lunch at the RAF Club next April. https://oldaskean.org.uk/dates-for-your-diaries/

The Askean RFC has survived the COVID season, and this again is down to the continued support and hard work of the committee and in particular Ian Lunn. A big thank you goes to the current squad who have stuck together and look forward to next season resuming. They have an event coming up which I would like to share with you.

ASKEAN RFC EVENT

I am very pleased to announce that the End-of-Season, New-Season, Launch of the Friends of Askean RFC Charity Dinner is to be held on: –

FRIDAY 6TH AUGUST

The event is at RECTORY FIELD

7.00PM – DOORS OPEN

7.30PM – FREE ‘CHAMPAGNE’ BAR

8.00PM – SIT DOWN 2 COURSE MEAL

SPEECHES – PRESENTATION OF AWARDS + LAUNCH OF ‘FRIENDS OF ASKEAN RFC’ CHARITY

1.00AM BAR CLOSES

ALL FOR JUST £25 A HEAD

This is a unique night for the Club, particularly with the launch of our new Charity – it is open to all members/players/supporters/your partners/family etc. What better way to celebrate our enforced incarceration? Come along and join us for an evening of fun, food, drink and, most importantly, a chance to meet with your old (ex) teammates to discuss lockdown stories and tales of yesteryear.

As usual, we will be looking for good friends of the club to help the younger members who may otherwise not be able to join in. Remember our younger days when we were ‘entertained’ by the older club members plying us with alcohol. It will be greatly appreciated if you can confirm to me your contribution, whatever sum you are able to offer. Just confirm to me how much you would like to contribute, and I will give you my bank details to make a transfer.

The committee are always striving to organise events throughout the year as to accommodate everyone’s tastes. It goes without saying that without your support and attendance, these events would not be able to be held and I must say in some beautiful and historical buildings, so I urge you to keep supporting them and ensure that you bring another OA or a friend along to the next one, as we can only grow and get better.

Thank you again for all your support and look forward to seeing you soon.

Andy Jordan-Smith

President

Old Askean Association

2018/19; 2019/20; 2020/21

Proposed B R Mellish Seconded A J Bolton Carried

3. To consider and adopt the Annual Accounts of the Association for the years ending 31^st March 2020 and 31^st March 2021. The Treasurer mentioned that no queries have been raised and there is a large surplus due to little activity and no items sold. The magazine costs have been covered by subscriptions. The Accounts were discussed and put to the meeting.

Proposed: A Jordan-Smith Seconded: T Pitman Carried

4. To elect the Officers of the Association for the year 2021-2022

There were no nominations from the members, therefore the Committee has nominated:

President………………………………………………………………………….. A T (Andy) Jordan-Smith

Immediate Past President…………………………………………………… M J (Mike) Nicholls

Senior Vice President………………………………………………………… G (Gary) Bunce

Junior Vice President…………………………………………………………. P (Peter) Ayling

Membership Secretary and Registrar…………………………………… A J (Alan) Bolton

Secretary……………………………………………………. R J (Richard) Sandler

Treasurer……………………………………………………………. S K (Steve) Homewood

Social Secretary N R (Roger) Goodman

Proposed: R J Sandler Seconded: A Jordan –Smith Carried en bloc

5. To elect two Ordinary Members of the Committee for the years 2021-2022

P J (Paul) Duggan is retiring and has offered himself for re-election

The committee has nominated M C(MC) Black and P J (Paul) Duggan

BR (Barry) Mellish is deemed to have been re-elected in 2020 (when covid19 prevented the holding of an AGM) and has one year to serve. The Committee has been unable to nominate a second member and will fill the remaining vacancy under Rule 5.10

Proposed: R J Sandler Seconded: A Jordan-Smith Carried

6. To consider any Resolutions or Business previously given in writing in accordance with Rule 8·4.

None were given

ANY OTHER BUSINESS

The President said that Dennis Johnson is stepping down from the Committee and was warmly thanked by all members for his many and valuable years of service

Alan Bolton gave a list of new members and a list of those that have sadly died since the last AGM in 2019 and they are:

New Members since the last AGM in 2019

Alan Ayling
Mark Bowen
Gareth Davies
Hatim Dungawalla
Ian Ferguson
Joe Grossi
Ian McAllister
Trevor Pitman
Carl Thomas

Members who have died since the last AGM in 2019

Donald Ballantyne
Phil Bingham
Peter Collison
Robert Dawe
Peter Dunkle
Harry Edwards
Tony Harding
Alan Scott
Roy Smith
Ian Valentine

The President reported that he has found some more information relating to Peter George Fogden under the ‘Freedom of Information Act’ and as some of you remember it was, he who was remembered by the Askean RFC Scoreboard. AJS hopes to put a small piece together for the next addition of the magazine highlighting his relatively short live until he was MIA presumed killed.

There was a general discussion over the controversy of Robert Aske and his links with the slave trade. Steve Homewood stated that the school has a 3 stage plan to investigate by research; canvassing the views of students, parents, teachers and alumni and finally evaluating what they find before coming to any decision. The Haberdashers Company, who still owns the land, will not permit the removal of Haberdashers from the school title. . The company still funds to the extent of £300000 pa and therefore has a major stake in what is to happen at the school.

The President reported that the school motto “Serve and Obey” is under severe threat as not being appropriate for the modern era.

Dennis Johnson pointed out that the statue of Robert Aske is listed and therefore safe from removal at present.

The views of The Hatcham Association were of interest to the meeting and Steve Homewood reported that the 3 representatives at the zoom meeting were firmly against any change of name.

From a social perspective, Steve Homewood reported that the City Diners would restart in September. Roger Goodman confirmed that the Advent Lunch is still, at present, going ahead.

Finally, Geoff Fairburn has an original artist’s impression of The Kidbrooke Squash Courts which he will pass on to the Committee.

The meeting closed at 6.35pm with a vote of thanks to Barry Mellish for facilitating the use of Zoom for the meeting

Signed………………………………………………………………………….

Month: August 2021

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Old Askean AGM 8th July 2021 – Draft Minutes